Operation Gulmarg of 22 October was a Pakistani attack to occupy Kashmir.

 

Operation Gulmarg of 22 October was a Pakistani attack to occupy Kashmir.

Presentation of Dr Shabir Choudhry in a Seminar jointly organised by JKINA and JKIPA in Nottingham, England.

1. Mr Chairman, yesterday I planned to make a detailed presentation in an international Webinar organised by United Kashmir Peoples National Party. I wanted to speak on the following three aspects of Operation Gulmarg.

   • Why did Pakistan attack Kashmir?

   • Why Jammu and Kashmir dispute was referred to the UN

     Security Council

   • Was Mr Jinnah aware of the Operation Gulmarg?

2. However due to time constraints, I could only speak on the role of Mr Jinnah, and only briefly touched the other two aspects.

3. A fellow panellist made some negative remarks on my presentation, and advised me and others to avoid criticising the founder of Pakistan because the Pakistani people will get angry. Also, he said that KH Khurshid was Mr Jinnah’s Secretary, and he did not mention these things in his book.

4. Apart from that he said, I studied Science, and sarcastically said those who study social sciences, they pick up things from here and there, and make up stories to prove their point.

5. Mr Chairman, today I want to briefly explain what the tribal invasion did to us and the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and what was the role of KH Khurshid.

6. On 16 August 1947, we had our own State. We had a government; we had an Assembly. We had a Prime Minister and we had Maharaja Hari Singh as Head of this State.

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7. Despite a written agreement, we were attacked by Pakistan in the name of Jihad.

8. Our State was divided by force. Tens of thousands of innocent people were killed, women raped and kidnapped.

9. Since October 1947, we have been suffering on both sides of the divide because of this imperialist attack disguised as a jihad.

10. The Tribal invasion, as far as people of Jammu and Kashmir are concerned, was a major event in the modern history of Jammu and Kashmir. In unprovoked and unilateral violation of the Standstill Agreement, the Pakistani Government decided to teach the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir a lesson; and snatch Jammu and Kashmir by military might.

11. It was not only catastrophic because it resulted in the death of tens of thousands of innocent people, rapes and kidnapping of women and girls; but it also changed the course of our history.

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This unprovoked aggression had the following impact:

• It changed our destination.

• It changed secular ethos of Jammu and Kashmir.

• It deprived us of our independence.

• It divided our beloved motherland.

• It divided families and people of Jammu and Kashmir.

• It killed innocent men and women.

• It dishonoured women and girls of Jammu and Kashmir.

• It plundered and looted the resources of Jammu and

  Kashmir.

• It is the main cause of our present miseries and troubles

  on both sides of the forced division.

• Name of Islam was used to advance imperial agenda of

  Pakistan, and to kill innocent people in name of religion.

• In one sentence, it is the cause of all our problems we face

  today.

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13. The Operation Gulmarg was planned by Brigadier Akbar Khan on the instructions of the Pakistani Government. The plan was finalised in a meeting in Lahore in the first week of September in a small secret meeting. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, and was attended by Finance Minister Ghulam Mohammed, Mian Iftikhar Ud Din, Sardar Shaukat Ayat and Brigadier Akbar Khan.

14. Brigadier Akbar Khan, on instructions of the political leaders of Pakistan, emphasised in his Plan that presence and involvement of the Pakistan government must not be visible. The entire matter should be presented as a local uprising of Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir against ‘cruel Hindu despot’.

15. In my presentation to prove my points I quoted from Mountbatten’s top-secret reports which he sent to London as a Governor General of India.; and which were published after some decades. If my critics and KH Khurshid did not study these reports, it is not my fault.

16. Also, I quoted from a book called ‘Mission with Mountbatten’, written by Alan Campbell – Johnson, who was Mountbatten’s Press Attaché in India between 1947 till June 1948, if my critics and KH Khurshid did not read this book it is not my fault.

17. Apart from that, I quoted from credible English and Pakistani writers like Collins and Lapierre, Major General Akbar Khan, Major Agha Humayun Amin and Humayun Mirza. If my critics and KH Khurshid did not read these books, then it is not my fault.

18. Some of these critics say they have no time to read books or do research, but sadly, when people like me spend months and years in research and identify the culprits, these critics with their little knowledge and myopic view of the political and strategic give sermon to us that we should not name them as Pakistanis will get angry.

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19. I don’t like to give any sermons. However, I strongly emphasise that we must identify who were the culprits. Who planned the attack? What was their agenda and who were the local collaborators?

20. Perhaps, these people have no remorse that our state is divided because of these culprits.

21. They don’t feel the pain and suffering of the families who were divided as a direct result of this conspiracy.

22. They feel no regret that daughters of Jammu and Kashmir were kidnapped and raped because Pakistan launched this attack to capture Kashmir.

23. Thousands of Pakistanis who have clear conscience and who have read books on history other than Pakistan Studies, strongly criticise their government’s Kashmir policy, and the policy of those who arranged the attack known as an Operation Gulmarg.

24. Mr Chairman, we have people who claim to be working for unification and independence of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and yet their worry is if we name the culprits who created all the problems for us mentioned above, some Pakistanis will get angry.

25. Those who are worried about anger, happiness and satisfaction of Pakistan, is it not time for them to say goodbye to the struggle for independence, because Pakistanis don’t like the independence of Jammu and Kashmir?

26. Perhaps, people should not talk about the plight of people of Mirpur who were uprooted from their homes because Pakistan constructed Mangla dam to satisfy their energy and water needs?

27. Should political activists remain quiet about problems of the people of Muzaffarabad who have serious water shortage, and

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environmental issues because Pakistan diverted the natural course of River Neelam.

28. Apart from that, do you think people should not complain about the role of the Pakistani lent officers, because these Pakistanis and many others will get angry.

29. When people talk about looting and plundering of our resources by Pakistan, I am sure Pakistanis get upset on this, so should people remain quiet, and ask the Pakistanis to continue with what they are doing. We will not complain or name you because we don’t want to make you angry?

30.

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Mr Chairman, I want to present some more facts, which may

upset some Pakistanis, or upset their sympathisers? I do not

intend to upset anyone. I don’t get any satisfaction from upsetting

people. However, I have a role to share my knowledge and

experience with people, and expose the propaganda of Pakistan.

They have fooled people of Pakistan and Muslims of Jammu and

Kashmir since 1947 in name of Islam and Muslim brotherhood to

confuse and manipulate them.

31. Mr Chairman, I have nothing against KH Khurshid. He was a son of soil, a fellow citizen of Jammu and Kashmir. He was a barrister as well. He worked as a secretary of Mr Jinnah, and helped him in his struggle to divide India in name of Islam, and establish Pakistan with disastrous outcomes for the people of the Indian Sub-Continent. By no stretch of imagination one can claim that KH Khurshid knew everything related to the partition of India and what My Jinnah did.

32. Those who have worked in offices or have a professional background in business, politics or in administration know very well that the Boss does not tell everything to his secretary. Generally, the secretary is dictated by the boss what he should do, for example, type a letter and send it to newspapers or to XYZ. Receive phone calls, make records of things, keep a diary of the boss, make files, make appointments etc.

33. KH Khurshid did his Bar, but he had no experience under his belt. Why do we assume that the role of KH Khurshid was different from a normal Secretary of that era? Why we assume that he knew everything related to the partition of India; and that Mr Jinnah confided secret matters with him. Or Mr Jinnah consulted him on political or social matters.

34. Historians tell us that Mr Jinnah only trusted one person, and that was Mr Jinnah himself. He did not even trust his close colleagues and senior leaders of the Muslim League.

35. I am not interested in how well he served the interests of Mr Jinnah, and how he helped him to divide India by promoting communalism. My criterion is a simple one, what did he do for Jammu and Kashmir? As a Secretary of Mr Jinnah what did he achieve for Jammu and Kashmir?

36. When plans were made to attack Jammu and Kashmir what did he do? When my country was under attack and my countrymen were butchered, and our women were kidnapped and raped by the Pakistani invaders, what did he do? Was he even aware of this conspiracy that his boss and his colleagues were planning to attack Kashmir?

37. People who have some knowledge of the history of that time may say KH Khurshid was in Prison in Srinagar before the attack, how could he have helped his countrymen. Do they know why he was sent to Srinagar at that time when the situation was at a boiling point? If he was so important to Mr Jinnah, why did he send him to Srinagar to ascertain the exact situation of Kashmir that Mr Jinnah could take appropriate actions.

38. Even when he came back to Pakistan in a prisoner exchange, and his country was forcibly divided by actions of his boss and his colleagues, did he even issue a statement against this illegal and imperial attack?

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39. Even when Pakistani soldiers attacked Poonch in Azad Kashmir in the 1950s to crush a rebellion against Pakistan, what role did KH Khurshid play? Did he oppose this? Did he hold any demonstration against Pakistan? Did he issue any press release to criticise what Pakistan was doing in so called Azad Kashmir?

40. Remember, history of Jammu and Kashmir does not start with KH Khurshid; and surely it does not end with his death. He wrote on Jammu and Kashmir what he knew, or what he thought was appropriate to make public.

41. He was appointed President of so-called Azad Kashmir just like his predecessors. At no time, he declared that this region was under the occupation of Pakistan. By becoming a President of so-called Azad Kashmir, like the previous Presidents, he also confirmed that the 22 October attack was justified and that this area was liberated.

42. People need to know that Mangla Dam was built during his reign. People of Mirpur who opposed the construction of this illegal Dam and protested, were beaten up, tortured and put in prison during his Presidency.

43. After becoming the President of Azad Kashmir, what did he do for the people of Gilgit Baltistan? How many times did he visit this region to investigate their plight and suffering?

44. If the Pakistani occupied Kashmir was ‘azad’, then as a President of this azad Government, what actions did he take to liberate the other Kashmir which he thought was under the occupation of India?

45. He was appointed in the same way by Pakistan and removed by them. So, in what way he was different from other Presidents of so-called Azad Kashmir. Like Sardar Qayyum Khan and sardar Ibrahim Khan he was also put in prison by Pakistan, and like them when he was released, he also did not utter a word against injustice of Pakistan.

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46. I agree, he introduced a new concept that Azad Kashmir should be recognised by Pakistan, and that Pakistan should help to get this territory recognised by other countries as well. Even on this, we need to know that senior leaders of that time, like Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Manzoor Qadir, were of the view that Pakistasn need to take a new approach on Jammu and Kashmir dispute, and this idea of recognising Azad Kashmir was floated.

47. Did he not sign Act 74, which very strongly strengthened the Pakistani hold on so called Azad Kashmir?

48. Did he not, under pressure from Zulfqar Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, merge his party into the Peoples Party. So where was his ideology? How strong was his commitment to this ideology? Or was this idea given to him by Pakistan?

49. KH Khurshid is no longer with us, and I can pray for his forgiveness, but please don’t expect me to hold him in high esteem just because he was a ‘Secretary’ of the man who promoted communalism and divided India, in which more than half million people died.

50. To me, he was just another leader of Azad Kashmir who served the interests of Pakistan. Since he was Secretary of Mr Jinnah, people see him in a different light. Give him the credit he deserves, but don’t present him as a great nationalist leader of Jammu and Kashmir, which he was not.

51. As a student of history and politics I have to see if his actions were pro Jammu and Kashmir and pro people of the Indian Sub- Continent, or his actions resulted in harming the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and our national cause.

52. I am not among those who were influenced by his sweet talk towards the end of his life, when he knew he would not get another chance from Pakistan to serve the Pakistani interests by

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becoming Prime Minister or a president of so-called Azad Kashmir.

53. Mr Chairman, thank you for your patience. I know so many issues and important aspects I could not cover because of the time constraint. If people have any questions on this, please do ask, I will reply to them.

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